Earthquake-Proof Engineering

On August 17th, 1999, the ground beneath Turkey’s capital city of Ankara began to rumble. After 37 seconds of powerful, dizzying shaking, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake centered in Izmit left portions of Izmit, Ankara and surrounding areas in devastating ruins. 17,000 people lost their lives that day, half a million were left without homes and the economic damage reached as high as 8 billion dollars.

In the midst of it all, 13 year-old Menzer Pehlivan—a future engineer, though she did not know it yet—was forced to evacuate her apartment building. It was a scary experience, but sparked her desire to help prevent future tragedies on that scale. “Having seen what happens when buildings fail in an earthquake, that became my drive,” Menzer explains. “When we understand all of what causes buildings and infrastructure to fail, we can prevent a lot of unnecessary death and heartache from earthquakes.”

In Dream Big, the film team travels with Menzer and a multi-national earthquake reconnaissance team all the way to the steep mountainsides of Nepal, after a massive 7.8 earthquake buried fragile villages under rubble. It was heart wrenching for Menzer to see the quake’s effects on the people of Nepal, especially knowing first-hand what it is like for children to live amid such destruction, but the trip was equally filled with signs of triumphant resilience. Menzer had a chance to see up close the determined, unbowed spirit of the local people–and also a chance to collect critical data that will help engineers design future structures that can better withstand these huge natural forces.

For Menzer, the big impact of earthquake engineering on real lives is a prime example of what might draw a kid in 2016 to aim high as an engineer. “As an engineer, you actually get to use your mind to change the world–and you can actually see it change,” Menzer enthuses. “You can build a skyscraper that changes the skyline of a big city or a treatment plant that helps keep that city’s water clean. You can have whatever life you want to have as an engineer, so long as you are willing to work hard. You can build stuff, you can help people, and you can even save lives as an engineer. If you engineer a building that is still standing after an earthquake, you have just saved hundreds of lives. I think not enough people really know this side of engineering. There is so much personal satisfaction from improving people’s lives.”

For Menzer, the big impact of earthquake engineering on real lives is a prime example of what might draw a kid in 2016 to aim high as an engineer. “As an engineer, you actually get to use your mind to change the world–and you can actually see it change,” Menzer enthuses. “You can build a skyscraper that changes the skyline of a big city or a treatment plant that helps keep that city’s water clean. You can have whatever life you want to have as an engineer, so long as you are willing to work hard. You can build stuff, you can help people, and you can even save lives as an engineer. If you engineer a building that is still standing after an earthquake, you have just saved hundreds of lives. I think not enough people really know this side of engineering. There is so much personal satisfaction from improving people’s lives.”